Ms. Wuertstle is Executive Director of the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council in Fort Myers. Ms. Wuerstle has more than 30 years experience in a variety of urban and regional planning positions. Prior to joining the Southwest Florida regional planning Council, she was the Chief Planner and Zoning Hearing Examiner for the City of Cincinnati, Ohio. Her experience includes seven years with an Atlantic City law firm, three years with an environmental consulting firm, three years as Director of Zoning for the City of Rochester, New York, five years in county government and three terms as the Mayor of Dunkirk, New York. Ms. Wuerstle is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a Licensed Professional Planner in New Jersey. She has been an adjunct instructor at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Louisville teaching courses in Land Use Controls, Zoning, Social Justice and Comprehensive Planning.

Jennifer Pellechio is a Planner III/Network Administrator for the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council with more than 13 years experience. In addition, she is the Program Manager for Southwest Florida Regional Economic Development District (EDD). She has extensive experience in working with grants, managing and implementing economic development projects. As the Network Administrator, Ms. Pellechio maintains and administers the Council’s network and/or wide area network operating software and hardware. She also designs, develops, maintains, researches, purchases, prepares budgets and trains staff on the existing network systems. In both positions, she manages projects from concept to completion. Prior to joining the SWFRPC, Ms. Pellechio worked for the City of Cape Coral, City Clerk’s Office for six years. Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Science (BS) Degree in Computer Information Systems from Florida Gulf Coast University and earned her Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) in Leadership and Management from Keiser University.

Jay McLeod is a Planner at the Central Florida Regional Planning Council. Jay primarily works on dynamic and diverse long-range planning projects and special studies that span many jurisdictions in the region. He is responsible for data collection, coordination, analysis, and synthesis for the HUD Sustainable Communities grant which is concerned with creating a sustainable, coordinated 50-year regional growth scenario for the Heartland. He also is part of the HUD Energy Resiliency Study, as undertaken by all of Florida’s Regional Planning Councils, which will help determine Florida’s economic responsiveness and resiliency to fluctuations in future energy prices. Currently, he is engaged as part of a multi-disciplinary team of CFRPC employees that has been contracted to help a small local town “re-vision” its derelict downtown to create a vibrant livable city center. Jay’s specialties include data coordination, analysis, and synthesis, often using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), urban design and graphical presentation, energy planning, and green infrastructure planning. Jay started his career as a biologist and has over 3 years of experience as a biological field technician performing large-scale ecosystem surveys, and also has expertise in the ecology of urban systems. He later returned to school and achieved a Masters degree in Biology from the University of Louisville, KY. After that, he pursued and obtained a Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Florida, as a means to bridge the ecology of natural systems with the economy of the built environment. In between Master’s degrees, Jay spent several semesters studying landscape design and graphical presentation.